Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: Paul Winchell

Ventriloquist Paul Winchell with Jerry Mahoney

24 Jun 2014 3 2065
This "Paul Winchell" trading card is no. 18 in a series of 36 "Television & Radio Stars of N.B.C." cards published in 1952 The description on the back of the card identifies ventriloquist Paul Winchell as the star of the Paul Winchell-Jerry Mahoney Show on NBC-TV (the show ran from 1950 to 1954) . Winchell's puppet (also called a ventriloquist's dummy or ventriloquial figure) was named Jerry Mahoney, and the back of the trading card explains, "Jerry, the sassier half of Winchell, is one of the most valuable puppets in the world. He is insured for $10,000. Winchell lives in New York with his wife and small daughter, who accepts Jerry as a living member of the family." Paul Winchell died in 2005, but his puppets--Jerry Mahoney and another one named Knucklehead Smiff--live on in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution.